Install and Config MPlayer on Ubuntu

I tried to install realplayer on Ubuntu 7.0.4, no luck, even if I fixed the RealPlayer and SCIM conflict. Suggested by Yi, I decided to install MPlayer.

Follow the instruction on: http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_install_MPlayer_Multimedia_Player, to install MPlayer.

There was some extra steps to get MPlayer to play a rmvb file on my Vostro 200 box with Intel GMA 3100(G33) graphics card and DELL E207WFP wide screen LCD.

Error code: error opening/initializing the selected video_out (-vo)device
Solution: Open a mplayer, select configure (right click mouse --> Preferences) select Video section and after select xv or x11

Error code: cannot find the codec matching -vo and video format 0x30345652
Solution: install codec available in aptitude using the command:

sudo aptitude install gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-gl gstreamer0.10-plugins-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-good gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse libxine-extracodecs w32codecs

Error: The video does not zoom correctly
Solution: sudo gedit /etc/mplayer/mpalyer.conf
and uncomment the following setup:
monitoraspect=16:9
zoom=true

Now I could play the rmvb video files without any problems. Next time, I'll get audio fine tuned.

Google Pinyin only supports Windows OS

I can't imagine that Google Pinyin does not support Linux/Unix OS.

系统要求
Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4 / XP / Vista
Internet Explorer 6.0+

How to beautify Chinese characters using Windows fonts in Ubuntu

如何使用xp带的字体来进行Ubuntu中文美化

The font comes with Ubuntu looks really ugly. Here is a way to beautify Chinese Characters using Windows fonts like SimSun.

Copy simsun.ttc, tahoma.ttf from windows/fonts directory to /usr/share/fonts/zh_CN/TrueType，then update Ubuntu fonts list using the following command:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/fonts/zh_CN/TrueType
sudo cp simsun.ttc /usr/share/fonts/zh_CN/TrueType/
sudo cp tahoma.ttf /usr/share/fonts/zh_CN/TrueType/
sudo chmod 644 /usr/share/fonts/zh_CN/TrueType/*
cd /usr/share/fonts/zh_CN/TrueType/
sudo mkfontscale
sudo mkfontdir
sudo fc-cache /usr/share/fonts/zh_CN/TrueType/

Install and config Ubuntu on Vostro 200

Last week, I bought a new Vostro 200 from Dell with $4xx. Since I started working, I have not really worked on Linux environment at any client site. I feel that I'm disconnected from Linux, and it's the time to pick it up.

After I consulted several folks, I decided to go with the latest Ubuntu Desktop(7.04). Installation is straight forward. Downloading image, create installation CD, install it like Windows...After two hours, I had Ubuntu desktop running on my machine.

Oh, yeah!... But, wait...it's not done yet...and the pain starts...It took me quite a bit of time to have everything configured correctly. I would like to share my experience with other folks.

Firstly, I could not connect to network It looks like Ubuntu did not have the right Ethernet driver. The network card comes with the mother board, and it's supposed to use Intel(R) PRO/10/100/1000/10GbE Drivers. Here is what I did:

• Download e1000-7.6.5.tar.gz from http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=42302&use_mirror=internap&filename=e1000-7.6.5.tar.gz&63333463

• tar xfvz e1000-7.6.5.tar.gz
• cd e1000-7.6.5/src
• sudo make install
• sudo modprobe e1000

Now you should see a wired connection available.

The next big problem was graphics card and monitor. The machine came with Intel GMA 3100(G33), but the driver comes with Ubuntu is out of date. Ubuntu only showed resolution up to 1280x1024, and it tried to stretch Dell E207WFP LCD to use this resolution. To fix the graphics card driver issue, I downloaded xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.1.0-1ubuntu1_i386.deb from http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=37549&d=1183829057, you need have an account to download this file, double click the file and follow the prompt to install the driver. Instructed by an Ubuntu forum post, I modifed /etc/X11/xorg.conf to use the latest driver: In "Device" section, change Driver from "vesa" to "intel".

Restarted the computer, I see graphics card driver recognized. But after I logged into my account, the monitor went black and the following appeared in bright yellow in the middle of the window:

1: Analog Input
Cannot Display The Video Mode
Optimum Resolution 1680x1050 60 Hz

To solve this issue, I had to modify xorg.conf again, and put my monitor HorizSync/VertRefresh frequency in the "Monitor" section, as well as add wide screen resolution "1680x1050" into "Screen"-->"Display"-->"Modes" section.

This is a sample xorg.conf file with my changes highlighted(just find your own monitor specs and make corresponding changes, don't copy it to your configuration):

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
Driver "intel"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "DELL E207WFP"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 30-83
VertRefresh 56-75
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
# Device "Intel"
Device "Generic Video Card"
Monitor "DELL E207WFP"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1680x1050" "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1680x1050" "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1680x1050" "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1680x1050" "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1680x1050" "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1680x1050" "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

Hope my experience will help.

"Skipped" Unit Tests

Tests run: 11, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 5

This is a test report from a client CruiseControl site. What's the point to write unit tests and have them "skipped"?